Sawmill Chicanery
we picked up at Aldern's house after we killed those two stalkers. We checked the rest of the house for loot. Nothing was found. Riclamin piled up the two bodies for a foot stool and and sat back and relaxed while sharpening his greatsword. We pondered our next move. The group reviewed the tax documents. One document had a ledger of payments to "B7" every month for a trip that Aldern's wife took to another city (i'm forgetting the name at the moment). We came to the conclusion that "B7" was a reference to The Brothers Seven group that had a hand in Aldern's affairs. We went to the Brother's Seven Sawmill to try and gather more information about that group. Once we got to the sawmill area, we asked the locals more about the corporation, but not much was found about the group that we didn't already know (which isn't much). The group owns the sawmill in Magnamar, they are a pretty well known establishment in the area. Kent scouted the sawmill for us, he found that both doors were locked, and was unable to hear much due to the load nature of the machinery at the mill. It was during working hours. We contemplated our next move on how to get into the mill while Swiftus chatted up the local 'meat cart guy' and munched on various meats he offered. We were trying to decide if we should wait until night to break into the mill or if one of us should act as a local and try to infiltrate the mill by asking for a job. Elyryan decided she was going to approach the mill and ask if they were hiring. She removed her armor and her Scimitar (to blend in with the locals), leaving only her silver dagger on her person. She approached the saw mill at the bottom entrance while Swiftus and Riclamin stayed back by the meat cart at the ready. Kent continued to stay in the shadows scouting the outer perimeter. Elyryan knocked on the door and waited. Soon after a man opened the door confused why a lady would be knocking on the door in the middle of the day. Elyryan asked if the mill was hiring and that she was looking for a job. The man responded that this is hardly a job for a woman, but Elyryan pressed that she was interested in employment at the mill regardless. The man thought about it for a moment and asked that she wait at the door while he got someone who could help her. The door shut and Elyryan waited. Minutes later, another man opens the door and asks Elyryan to step in. Elyryan does and the man motions for her to follow him around the building to the front entrance. Elyryan hesitates a bit and asks if the job is available. The man keeps motioning her to walk forward and up the stairs to the main office. Elyryan does a motive check and finds out something is fishy with the situation. Swiftus and Riclamin watch from the meat cart as Elyryan is escorted around the building to the front entrance by a man. The boys notice Elyryan is a bit worried so they watch intently as she is led to the main door and the door closes behind her. (shit...) Once inside, the man escorting Elyryan immediately locks the door behind them. Two to three other men are in the room with Elyryan. One of them is Ibor from the mill in Sandpoint. He says hello, Elyryan does a motive check and discovers that his motive is aggressive (oh crap, Elyryan is without armor and only has a silver dagger to attack with). All three men in the room them begin to approach her while putting on patchwork masks (like the skinsaw masks) and pulling out Razors from their robes. She gets hit a few times, then casts Obscuring Mist that hinders everyone's sight in the building within a 20 foot radius. Her plan is to flee the scene. She then casts a hold spell on the guy holding the keys. Then she fishes in his pocket for the keys while the other men attempt to attack her. Kent hears the sounds of a skirmish inside and motions for Swiftus and Riclamin for help. After a few percentile throws from Elyryan, she tries to find the correct key and unlock the door. At this time Riclamin approaches and attacks the door and breaks the lock. Swiftus kicks in the door, but the group is unable to see much as the mist is still... obscuring. Riclamin sees one of the attackers through the mist and cuts him into two pieces with his greatsword. While Swiftus and Elryan decide whether to get out of there with Swfitus's "escape to another location" (can't remember the name of that spell) spell, one of the assailants paralyzes Riclamin and his greatsword is dropped. Another assailant puts Ric in a hold and takes him away into the building while Swiftus and Elyran are fleeing the scene. Riclamin is pulled upstairs where he is attacked a few more times, paralyzed and bounded. Outside, the group scrambles, Elyryan dismisses the mist and they enter the building to rescue Ric. Elyryan was unable to don her armor and grab her scimtar, so Swiftus casts Mage Armor on her and himself. Switfus also casts a familiar to aid in the attack. It is an evil hound (Josh, you can expand on this. can't remember all the stuff it does. I remember it sounding badass though). Kent leads the group up the stairs. The group encounters the baddies at the top of the stairs, Kent attacks. Ric attemps to get out of the bondage, but is unsucessful. The baddies take Ric and retreat to another room and lock the door. Kent unlocks the door, and hits one of the assailants in the doorway. The baddy casts a spell, but Kent passes the Will save. Riclamin is able to break from the bond, takes a couple hits and then uses his claws to attack his assailants. Kent moves a square so Elyryan can get in on the action in the doorway. The baddy bullrushes her and she falls down the open stairwell for 5 damage. ouch. Riclamin draws his longsword and attacks the guy in the doorway. There is a bit of a bottleneck now since the group is in a hallway that leads to a bigger room. The entrance to that room is blocked by a baddie. Riclmamin is in the room with 3-4(?) bad guys.